The Girl On The Train Reviews Compilation Thread
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afeshs — 9 years ago(October 20, 2016 11:06 AM)
More:
Emily Blunt excels as the broken-down heroine of Paula Hawkins' bestseller [] [Rachel] is a pretty far-gone alcoholic, and
Blunt, in a perilously effective performance,
plays her with a cold, slack woe that makes it look as if her facial features are slowly coming apart.
Blunts performance is a masochistic revel, but shes such a tender and lyrical actress that she makes even Rachels lowball actions sympathetic.
We cant help but root for her, even when she seems to be a drunken destroyer with borderline personality disorder. At one point, she stands in a bathroom, smearing the mirror2000 with lipstick, letting out the rage she feels at her ex-, and its a cathartic moment. Blunt, who plays half her scenes looking like shes holding back tears (or maybe screams), is a luminous actress whos been in need of a role that allows her to get past her slight decorousness, and this is that role. It should, at last, elevate her star.
http://variety.com/2016/film/reviews/the-girl-on-the-train-review-emily-blunt-1201872781/
Carrying the whole film however is Emily Blunt, who gives a brilliant performance that probably deserves a better movie around it. With a puffy face, bleary eyes and subtly slurred speech, Blunt convinces as a woman drowning her self-loathing and intense jealousy in alcohol. Blunt plays Rachel as always on the edge of a breakdown, portraying all of the hurt and confusion and fear that comes from not truly knowing what youve done the night before or even what youre capable of.
Ultimately, The Girl on the Train is a let-down but not a total wash: the performances make the whole endeavour worthwhile, particularly from Emily Blunt who, in a better film, would be bothering awards bodies come the end of the year.
http://www.seensome.com/reviews/7-movies/575-the-girl-on-the-train-review
Blunt is one of those actors who makes her profession look easy, and as such often fails to get the recognition she fully deserves. She's excellent here, the glue that holds together an otherwise near disastrous piece of filmmaking. Cinema has offered us dozens of bad portrayals of drunkenness, but Blunt's is one of the very best. With her portrayal of Rachel, we always feel like we're watching a drunk pretending to be sober, rather than a sober actor playing drunk. She's thoroughly convincing as an alcoholic. Unfortunately, so are the film's director, screenwriter and editor. This one's a mess.
http://www.themoviewaffler.com/2016/10/new-release-review-girl-on-train.html#.WAj07yTLpyE
[Blunt] has always been the type of actor whose movies were worth watching just to see what exciting jazz shes doing in them. It doesnt matter what the subject matter is, or if the rest of the movie will be any good. All that matters is that there will be Blunt.
It doesnt deserve it, but Girl on the Train possesses top-shelf Emily Blunt.
So much of Paula Hawkins bestseller smacks of Gillian Flynns: theres a missing girl (Haley Bennett), a free spirits disdain for suburban life, perspective shifts between characters
. But theres nothing in Gone Girl like Blunts Rachel.
Shes the eponymous hot mess a deeply damaged, black-out drunk who gets embroiled in a tangled, twisty mystery after observing what she suspects is foul play from the window of public transit.
Shes also the most thrillingly unhinged central protagonist of a major American motion picture since Mel Gibson in Conspiracy Theory. Rachel doesnt do anything as trashily psychotic as Rosamund Pikes Amazing Amy in Gone Girl, and shes not tinfoil hat like Mel. But shes arguably more fascinating and definitely more rare: Shes simply peerlessly pathetic and self-destructive the person you want to help but eventually have to push away out of self-preservation. And here she is, our lead character.
Blunt doesnt sugarcoat Rachel or make her likeable. Her unflattering secrets are doled out piecemeal throughout the film, and each time we learn something new she ramps up her performance, spluttering and flailing about all the more. Watching Blunts touchingly frantic work is more compelling than following the mystery in which Rachels engulfed, though her intrusion into it adds a shot to the arm.
[..]Miss this Emily Blunt performance at your own peril.
http://www.metro.us/entertainment/emily-blunt-is-the-reason-to-see-the-girl-on-the-train/zsJpjcFbDDHp4FezHE/
Ms Blunt nails the teetering insecurity and paranoia of someone cognisant and ashamed of their addiction. Here is a woman manifestly tortured by self-doubt, uncertain of her own identity and place in the world. Ms Blunts face, though still beautiful, has been roughly rouged and puffed up to better resemble someone whose appearance prompts disgust in other commuters. Yet it is really Ms Blunts display of understated misery that makes her intoxication so believable. Playing drunk is very hard to do. Ms Blunt, who, incidentally, was pregnant and entirely sober throughout filming, plays it very convincingly indeed.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/pr -
afeshs — 9 years ago(October 20, 2016 09:43 PM)
I felt really uncomfortable during that scene I had a hard time keeping looking. Emily is so real there it felt like you're witnessing someone's private breakdown moment. Like something you are not meant to see.
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afeshs — 9 years ago(October 21, 2016 09:15 AM)
I wonder how long the woman who was there with Rachel waited before leaving. The fact that she left silently made it even more hard hitting. When the camera pans out to Rachel standing all alone there it was incredibly sad!
So many great directional and cinematography choices in that scene. -
MaLiberte — 9 years ago(October 27, 2016 02:20 PM)
I have seen the movie twice. When the first time i saw that scene i wondered the exact same thing actually. So in the second time i paid attention to the woman.
Right after they screamed "beep you Anna Boyd" Rachel turned to the mirror and the woman left. I heard the sound of her heels. It's a very tiny sound, it's normal that you didn't hear it.
I think it is incredibly sad that the woman left that early. Yes, Rachel shared her pain with someone, got support for a moment but that's it. In the end, she was -like you said- all alone. -
afeshs — 9 years ago(October 20, 2016 09:46 PM)
But the real star of the movie is Emily Blunt. She turns in the best performance of her career as the deeply troubled title character. Its difficult to make Blunt look so unattractive and pathetic, but the filmmakers did so with a combination of make-up and prosthetics. But its Blunts acting that brought the character to life exactly the way she was envisioned in the book. Her performance is Oscar material.
http://www.erwinrecord.net/viewpoint/movie-night-girl-train-excellent-film-cast/
The most positive takeaway from the film is Emily Blunts portrayal of Rachel. Blunt has silently dominated the film industry with an eclectic compilation of roles over the past decade. From her supporting role in the fashion flick The Devil Wears Prada to a lead in Sicario, a movie surrounding the war on drugs, Blunt had proven to be a versatile actress on the rise. Blunts performance in The Girl on the Train only further demonstrates her wealth of talent. Her portrayal of Rachel is packed full of emotion and embodies the inner struggle of her character. Her facial expressions alone would be enough to convey the intricate, mental challenges that she suffers.
As the old saying goes, the book is always better than the movie. The Girl on the Train is no exception to this. Blunts captivating and definitive portrayal of Rachel carries the movie, but dull supporting characters and questionable derivations from the book halt the movie from finding success.
https://flyernews.com/the-girl-on-the-train-review-surprise-the-book-is-better-than-the-movie/ -
afeshs — 9 years ago(October 21, 2016 08:57 AM)
And yet, The Girl on the Train is largely, improbably redeemed by one thing: Emily Blunt's freewheeling, wildly entertaining performance. The British actress has proven gratifyingly willing to stretch her range in recent years, slyly chipping away at her charming persona with roles as tough-as-nails heroines in Looper, Edge of Tomorrow, and Sicario. But1c84 she's never played someone as magnetically loathsome as Rachel, an alcoholic who makes stupendously bad decisions and alienates everyone around her.
It's a seemingly impossible needle to threadBlunt has to make Rachel unlikable and sympathetic at the same timebut she pulls it off beautifully.
Even burdened with that obnoxious voiceover,
Blunt makes Rachel's pain palpable without ever softening her jagged edges. It's a bold, go-for-broke performance that singlehandedly saves the movie.
And even changes it. As clumsily workmanlike as The Girl on the Train may be as a thriller, it turns out to be a fascinating portrait of addiction and obsession. As someone who careens from one traumatic episode to the next,
Rachel is thoroughly repellent but also profoundly sad, and Blunt invisibly articulates the deep-seated dread and self-loathing of a woman who is unable to trust herself. She can't look herself in the eye, but she lets you see directly into her soul.
http://moviemanifesto.blogspot.ae/2016/10/the-girl-on-train-three-womens-lives.html -
afeshs — 9 years ago(October 22, 2016 09:57 AM)
Blunt is the sole strength of the film
as the protagonist Rachel Watson, a recent divorcee whos since turned to alcohol and obsessing over her ex-husbands new life. In and amongst her exhaustingly melodramatic surroundings, she more than holds it together as an actress while her character Rachel completely falls apart. She gives a raw and honest portrayal, while still looking remarkably flawless throughout.
Unfortunately her impeccable performance isnt quite enough to save the show, and if anything highlights how poorly put together the rest of the film is.
http://www.nouse.co.uk/2016/10/21/review-the-girl-on-the-train/
Although these artful touches add to the production value, the film really succeeds on the back of Emily Blunts performance. Her raw depiction of Rachel as a woman who is an angry mess, but also sad, lost, and, suddenly, determined to make things less awful, gives the plot some emotional resonance. Blunt is great at playing both drunk and in withdrawal. She also is convincing in her insistence that she used to be someone less disastrous. Blunts performance is really the standout in the film, as most of the supporting cast delivers either lackluster work or is in the film so briefly they barely register above a cameo.
http://www.thewaynedalenews.com/opinion/13147-secrets-and-a-tangled-web-of-lies-at-the-movies-with-kasey.html -
afeshs — 9 years ago(October 25, 2016 08:36 AM)
Blunt arguably puts in one of her most impressive performances of recent years. Praise is due to Blunt for being able to sell Rachels mania and lose grip on clarity throughout the film however, it is a crying shame that the remainder of the movie rather make her performance a lonely light to behold.
http://www.onenewspage.com/n/Entertainment/759vi2nva/MOVIE-REVIEW-The-Girl-on-the-Train.htm -
afeshs — 9 years ago(October 25, 2016 10:12 AM)
The best thing about the film is Emily Blunt, no contest. Blunt has always been a strong actress but she's
unreal
playing an alcoholic divorcee slowly slipping into madness. She gets a double dose of pain every day as she goes past her old neighborhood and within that pain she's granted even more of it because she's seeing two different lives that she craves. One being the fantasy of Megan and Scott's idyllic life, the beautiful couple who seem to make love at all hours of the day and the other being Anna and Tom, the life that could've been hers if Tom hadn't left her. It's heartbreaking not only because she's an alcoholic or because she's been jilted for another woman but because she'b68s going absolutely mad over these things. This isn't a stable woman and the alcoholism is only the tip of the iceberg. She's completely delusional and never once can you really see where she's coming from. You may have dreamt about the ideal life or seen a couple and thought "That's what I want" but never at the level of what Rachel is going through. When she's not showing up on the doorstep of her old home, she's becoming enraged at the idea that her completely made up life for Megan and Scott could be evaporating.
Blunt's performance belongs in another film entirely. She's world class against an entire cast (of generally good to great actors) who couldn't feel further away. I promise you, you've never seen someone playing an alcoholic like this. She tears the screen down with her intensity, burning with red, flushed cheeks, bloodshot eyes and snot and tears dripping down her face. It's a performance that could've veered too far into exploitative (and in many ways the writing takes it that direction) but Blunt manages to corral everything into one of the best performances you'll see this year. It's a shame that she's not in a better movie because she'd be Oscar nominated if she were.
See this for Emily Blunt's brutally sad portrayal of an alcoholic spiraling down the drain. She's an absolute force in a film that really doesn't deserve her. It's a career best for her and should not be missed despite the weak threads around her.
http://bjstreussnig.blogspot.ae/2016/10/blunt-instruments-girl-on-train-review.html -
afeshs — 9 years ago(October 26, 2016 09:14 AM)
This is an incremental cut above most Richard and Judy beach read adaptations, if only for offering a genuinely unsettling lead performance by an actor who captures an authentic sense of nightmarish, world-upside-down displacement, instead of being just another Hollywood A-lister simply playing the symptoms of aggravated psychological duress. [..] Erin Cressida Wilson's screenplay is chilling diabolical in how it delights in kicking the protagonist when she's down; an aspect that Emily Blunt really taps into with a haggard, desperate portrayal of alcoholic hopelessness that's rooted in an appalled empathy for the character she's playing. As an actor I continually blow hot and cold on, this is her best part since an unforgettable debut in My Summer of Love and an otherwise programmatic thriller is worth seeing on the merits of her performance alone.
http://letterboxd.com/film/the-girl-on-the-train-2016/reviews/by/added/ -
afeshs — 9 years ago(October 26, 2016 10:12 AM)
Blunts performance as Rachel is stunning; shes not afraid to let her emotions run wild while she plays a harsh, complex role.[..] The film starts off strong with Blunts impressive acting, but the plot sizzles when Anna and Hipwell are introduced. Taylor tries to make viewers feel for every character just as much as they sympathize with Rachel because of her divorce and drinking habits, but with the wonky script, that doesnt happen.[..] Though Blunts strong performance helps the film, the film lacks a true sense of danger.
https://theithacan.org/life-culture/review-the-girl-on-the-train-plot-teeters-off-the-tracks/ -
afeshs — 9 years ago(October 26, 2016 10:32 AM)
Blunt is so outstanding as Rachel vulnerable and disturbed, building herself up one minute only to relapse into drink or despair the next that its a shame shes stuck in the mess around her.
http://www.tulsaworld.com/staff/michael_smith/movie-rewind-the-girl-on-the-train-is-trainwreck/article_ca192a7b-6b63-53e2-bd09-1d9b22801ea2.html
Blunt excels as Rachel, a fractured performance that leaves her vulnerable due to her alcoholism, sympathetic due to her history but drawing contempt due to her actions. Blunt is the clear standout but the rest of the cast deliver solid performances that support the script.
http://rockrivertimes.com/2016/10/26/girl-on-the-train-is-a-suitable-date-night-thriller/
[..]There is, however, a new woman in my (critics) lifeand that woman is Emily Blunt. As the alcoholic, Blunt deepens the traditional role of unreliable narrator. She has blackouts and, thus, forgets about what happens when she is all soused-up. Despite this disability, Blunt humanizes her character by imbuing it, during the first scenes, with a very deep longing and sadness for home. She looks longingly at these homes along the tracks because, as we will find out later, she does not have a home anymore. Her alcoholic ways are done with such original ease. She is not woozy or all too drunk but we can see there is something unstable about her. When Blunt looks into the camera, one is reminded of a younger, perhaps more classically beautiful Karen Black.
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/the-girl-on-the-train-a-bumpy-ride/